Jackass 2.5’s biggest stunt: skipping the box office

The Internet-only debut of Jackass 2.5 will be the first of its kind from big …

Reinventing the term "straight to DVD," Paramount and MTV have decided to try a new concept: "straight to the Internet." With the upcoming Internet-only premiere of Jackass 2.5, the two have also managed to remove the stigma associated with skipping the movie theater and going straight to the small-screen by making a big deal of the venture. The 64-minute feature-length film's debut will be the first of its kind from big studios. If it proves successful, Jackass 2.5 could open the door to more 'Net-only debuts, or, more importantly, simultaneous releases of movies that won't be as monumentally bad as this one is sure to be.

Most of you are probably already familiar with Jackass, the show from MTV that highlighted the injury-prone, dangerous, and otherwise stupid antics of Johnny Knoxville and friends. The empire has grown since its humble beginnings, and box offices have already welcomed the original and sequel Jackass movies to the tune of $64 million and $73 million, respectively. But Jackass 2.5, which only cost $2 million to create (I mean, how much do some skateboards, 80 dozen eggs, a broom, three razors, and a live pig cost anyway?), is apparently just the thing to test out Internet-only distribution with—at least at first.

The plan goes like this: on Wednesday, December 19, Blockbuster will present the movie at http://www.blockbuster.jackassworld.com, which Internet users will be able to stream for free. Ads will be placed before and after the film, and presumably on the web page surrounding the embedded video. The ad-supported, streaming version of the movie will be available through the end of the year, but on December 26, those crazy enough to want to pay for a copy of it will be able to purchase Jackass 2.5 through some of their favorite digital video stores (which includes iTunes and Amazon), as well as on DVD. The movie will go for between $10 and $15 online, and a whopping $30 on DVD (which will include an additional 45 minutes of extras).

This scene from Jackass 2 tells
us what to expect from Jackass 2.5.

On January 1, ad-supported services like Joost will begin offering the movie (or clips thereof) for free, and later in the year, customers will be able to watch it through on-demand services. At that time, the website (jackassworld.com) will be turned into a portal of stupidityjackassery "all things jackass," including things like interviews and blog posts.

This isn't the first time a movie has gone 'Net-only. Independent filmmaker Edward Burns decided to debut his $4 million film Purple Violetsexclusively through the iTunes Store last month, and larger studios like Fox and Sony have made their own short, promotional films available online. But this will be the first full-length movie, backed by a major studio, that will be introduced online before being sold on physical media. Paramount appears to be confident that the venture will easily pay for itself—it's not as if $2 million is a particularly far-reaching goal. "If this works, it could open up and really change the game about additional content that studios can create," Paramount president Thomas Lesinski, told the New York Times.

Lesinski is apparently referring to the type of game-changing content that contains "more vomiting, nudity and defecation," according to one exec speaking anonymously to the New York Times. That's, um, nice and all, but what we would really like to see are movies that would otherwise be fit for the box office, but distributed online first (or at the same time as they hit theaters). The concept of simultaneous releases has been tossedaround for sometime now, with some adventurous moviemakers even experimenting with it. But overall, the big studios are still slow on the uptake, worrying that they'll never be able to make the kind of revenue they do at the box office through advertising, licensing, and download fees.

But perhaps Jackass 2.5, with its low overhead and easy-to-reach goals, can change that. We're rooting for you and your nut-crushing antics, Johnny.